\u201cI\u2019m probably going to play probably 25 events on both tours,\u201d Woods said, \u201cand I think that should cover most of the year, right?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Woods then grinned. Clearly, he was joking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The 15-time major champion’s annaul chat with the media at Albany Golf Club carries a d\u00e9j\u00e0 vu feeling. He’s been part-time player these past few years, and the public hasn\u2019t heard directly from him in several months. It’s generally been unclear when he might tee it up again, and that remains the case after this week’s press conference.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Woods, 49, underwent lumbar disc replacement surgery in October and was only recently cleared to chip and putt<\/a>. Yes, he\u2019s mounting a return to golf, but he essentially conceded that he\u2019s not expecting to win majors. Instead, he\u2019d \u201clike to come back to just playing golf again.\u201d<\/p>\n Therefore, Woods\u2019s latest comments introduced a new reality: his focus is more on being an administrator than a competitor.\u00a0<\/p>\n After Brian Rolapp assumed the role of PGA Tour CEO this summer (Woods was part of the search team that hired him), he introduced the Future Competition Committee<\/a>, with Woods as chairman. The goal of the nine-person council is to \u201cundertake a comprehensive review of the current competitive model and shape the future of Tour competition.\u201d The three themes? Parity, scarcity and simplicity.\u00a0<\/p>\n And so Woods\u2019s work in reshaping the sport has begun.\u00a0<\/p>\n Woods, shown here in November at his son Charlie’s high school golf tournament, continues to expand his focus away from competition. \/ Alex Peterman \/ The Palm Beach Post \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n \u201cI think we\u2019ve [the FCC] had three different meetings,\u201d he said, \u201cwe\u2019ve got one coming up here. We\u2019ve torn down and looked at so many different models. It\u2019s been a lot. We\u2019ve talked to title sponsors, we talked to CMOs, we talked to tournament directors, we talked to media partners, we’ve talked to a lot of different people and taken a lot in of what they would like to see.\u201d<\/p>\n The objective, to quote Roalpp directly, is not incremental change; it\u2019s significant change. The first part in achieving that appears to be tweaking the schedule.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n